Sociology of Music

What is the Sociology of Music?
Music serves as a means of universal communication and music serves the same functions for
everyone. Music is all around us. The genres and styles of music an individual likes
differs from person to person. Music plays an important role in our day to day lives, we
like hear background music while shopping, we like to hear our favorite songs when we
travel.

One person might prefer rap while another likes country
music. One person might like jazz while another person likes classical. Every person
developes a particular taste because of particular culture or society in which they live.
An American will immediately recognize The Star Spangled Banner, but someone living in
another part of the world would not recognize or understand this song because it is not
part of his culture.

Who Studies the Sociology of Music and Why?
Musicologists developed interested in the sociological aspects of music. In the 1950s, a
new form of musicology, ethnomusicology, emerged. Ethnomusicology is the study of music of
different world cultures. The ethnomusicologists studied the music of various world
cultures to understand the importance of music culturally. Music can play an important
role in the development of different cultures and also inspire social change.

Sociology of music has been an area largely left to
European sociologists. Fewer occupations or cultural projects are more social than making
music. Weber's Sociology of Music combines urban theory, class/labor theory,
rationalization theory, and even climatic changes. Sociology of music studies the social
components of music.

Production perspectives in the sociology of
music: The emergence of the Production of Culture and Art Worlds perspectives in
the 1970s was a pivotal moment in the study of musical production. In subsequent years,
the musical production literature experienced a notable growth  both in the number
of works and theoretical perspectives. This paper addresses six constraints that shape the
creation, performance, and dissemination of music. - Abstract: - Timothy J. Dowd,
Department of Sociology, Emory University

Max Weber and the Sociology of Music:
The sociology of music has been an area largely left to European sociologists. Fewer
occupations or cultural projects are more social than making music, and the domestic
sociological community's absence from the debate is deplorable given the dominant position
our country possesses regarding musical production. Weber's Sociology of Music, which
combines urban theory, class/labor theory, rationalization theory, and even climatic
changes, is an excellent place to begin a thorough discussion of the social components of
music. Our present understanding of cultural theories, urban theories, and Habermas's
Communicative Action Theory can be employed to improve on Weber's theory; toward a
new approach for the study of the sociology of music. - Abstract - Alan C.
Turley, Department of Sociology, State University of New York. - Journal Sociological
Forum, Publisher Springer Netherlands

Sounds and Society: Themes in the Sociology of
Music
Notes, Dec, 1996 by Terence J. O'Grady - - jstor.org/pss/853526
Martin effectively makes the point that one of the most important things that the
theoretical perspectives of authors such as Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber can
bring to the study of music is an understanding that an individual's way of thinking about
or reacting to music cannot be separated from the larger social context in which that
individual operates. A sociological perspective, Martin states, should at the very least
keep us aware that those things often considered to be somehow "natural" or
"innate" are, in fact, at least partly the result of socialization within a
given culture.

The Social Construction of Musical Meaning.
Martin carefully analyzes both the traditional empiricist and rationalist approaches to
explaining meaning in music, the former characterized by a belief that music has inherent
meaning and it is the listener's task to discover that meaning, and the latter
characterized by a belief that the listener imposes meaning on music by means of rational
faculties. The notion that meaning is socially constructed clearly flies in the face of
those who view music, and particularly Western art music, as possessed of inherent
meaning, a position that the author represents by the views of British musicologist Deryck
Cooke.

Relationship between musical structure and social
structure in various contexts and historical periods. Martin focuses on more
recent theorists such as Christopher Ballantine, John Shepherd, Alan Lomax, and Susan
McClary. While Martin finds each of them flawed for their partial insistence on
"inherent meaning", his treatment of them is sensitive and balanced.

Music As Social Action. Martin aligns
himself with the approach of Howard Becker, with the goal of developing a
"sociological understanding of music that takes it to be actively and collaboratively
produced in specific social contexts, rather than assuming that it represents the values
of social groups or reproduces their organizational features".

The Music Business in Capitalist Society.
Martin once again makes some interesting points; for example, in regard to the way in
which major record companies have historically responded to the uncertainties of the
popular market.

This is in most respects an excellent survey of the major
issues touching on the sociology of music, one that will be of significant value to
scholars interested in the subject.
TERENCE J. O'GRADY University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
COPYRIGHT 1996 Music Library Association, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

SOC3058 - Sociology of Music - Adorno and Beyond
huss.exeter.ac.uk/sociology/undergrad/module_description.php?code=SOC3058
To consider some of the classic and current approaches within the sociology of music, art
and literature and to exemplify these approaches with reference to empirical studies in
music sociology.
Intended Learning Outcomes
To examine and analyse musical phenomena in light of sociological theories and to apply
key concepts from music sociology to musical data. Knowledge of key theorists in
sociology, major empirical studies.

Sociology of Music and Theatre Arts
opleidingen.ugent.be
The advanced course sociology of music and performing arts aims at giving
students insight in the basic historical and conceptual issues related to the sociology of
music and performing arts.

THE SOCIOLOGY OF MUSIC, ART, AND LITERATURE
New York University, Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Sociology
Professor Juan E. Corradi
This course is addressed to those who aspire to culture in the broadest sense. The aim is
to understand literary and artistic products from the vantage point of modern sociology,
and thus to locate the production and circulation of cultural products in contemporary
society. The purpose is to discover the methods by which such works are created, the
contexts in which they are produced, and the ways in which they are received.